Brain, actually not a stupid question at all....in fact a very good one.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek Weaver

Of course you can grow on a gallon of milk/day with IF. IF has nothing to do with it. Progressive overload and a surplus of calories leads to mass gains. The only issue is whether or not you can stuff enough calories down during your eating window.

Derek is too smart...leaves me nothing to chime in with as he nailed it....but I'll try....(inhale and here I go)

GOMAD is just a simple (and effective) way to get in more calories (that are a great source of slower digesting proteins) over a whole day. Of course you also eat real foods during the day as well.

Strongmen of yesterdays would eat 2-3x a day and drink a ton of raw milk.

Why you do IF is another question (health? don't like eating all day?). You don't need to eat all day long to get in calories....nor is there any magic to timing them especially pwo unless you are some competitive athlete who needs glycogen replenishment for more activity in the next 12 hours.

You can either just eat whenever during a condensed eating window and it can vary by day as well (only do IF on non-lifting days?). If you want more of the "health" reasons then I would say a longer fasts less often is more along the lines of what is needed to generate the right stressful environment to the body.

Personally I have been experimenting with 1/2 gallon whole milk a day 3x/week and have a schedule like thus:
- M-W-F - Lift (usually mid afternoon), no real IF plans but usually just start eating whenever to whenever (usually 11am-8pm). These are the days I drink 1/2 gallon whole milk as well. Nothing magic here, just a window to eat in that is all.
- Sun-T-Th - IF planned day with AM fasted "cardio" (walking) for 45min. Eat in a smaller window such as from 3pm-8pm with more protein pulsed in less meals. No milk on these days.
- Sat - Whatever I feel like....and lets me go out Sat night and eat/drink up

No magic to ratios of macronutrients from food (sorry Dr Sears), no worry about post workout windows (I just eat at some point anyways after a workout), no real carb cycling but I do keep carbs to whole foods and don't overdo it in one sitting, protein is some what consistent and 1/2 gallon of milk is drank on lifting days only. I give myself a day off milk but still eat a ton of protein from real foods on IF days....like 100+g protein from the steak/chicken buffet at one sitting.

I've always thought I had bad experiences with milk in the past, but now with it on alternating days and only drinking whole milk.....so far, so good. Starting to think maybe the issues in the past (mucus, sinusitis, acne) were with me drinking all skim milk everyday. I may up to a gallon a milk 3x a week on non-IF days just to see what happens.

So far, it is working well....I am losing fat where I want to (stubborn areas) and have gained a few lean muscle lbs at the same time (as I am actually up in weight). Slow and steady seems to work just fine for me.

IF also has an interesting body composition saving feature (as you see with all the studies compared to CR who lose mass). So the alternating days with less overall calories (but still enough protein) along with bigger calorie days mixed in seems to be working. So far this looks like a more ideal long term gaining strategy while keeping fat gains minimal.

As for downing a gallon of milk post workout...I bet that leads to more fat than muscle over time....and I would love to watch a person actually try that without puking.